Warning bells started ringing in Rain’s mind, joining the call of the chained tome. She could remember the book she used to trap Hornet; it had also called to the people around it, promising to fulfill their dreams if they read it. She hadn’t forgotten what happened there.

 

This book felt far more alluring and dangerous than that one. Its pull was like a shining moon compared to a dull star. 

 

And yet Rain couldn’t leave it behind when Mr. Purple was telling her to take it. Rain checked her corruption and found it was only at nine percent. This couldn’t be an illusion from her mind. Probably. But if it wasn’t, then was Mr. Purple's request for her to explore the library from back then real? What could Rain trust?

 

Mr. Purple didn’t fade away; his words hung there in front of Rain, urging her to discard every ounce of sense she possessed and take the obviously sinister book. 

 

Rain wished she could leave and think about this someplace where her mind was clear, but if she left, there was no guarantee that she would ever find this place again. Even if she left a coin right in front of the book, the library might take her somewhere else when she tried to return. 

 

She felt like one of the people she had given books from her library. Rain was being offered something that could be wonderful but felt dangerous, and she couldn’t think it through properly because there was no time. 

 

In the end, Rain had no real choice. Mr. Purple was her first friend, and he was asking her to do something. Even if Rain felt like this was a bad idea, she owed it to him to take the risk and trust he knew what he was asking her.

 

Rain held Snow tight with her right hand while reaching out to grab the sinister book with her left. The moment her gnarled fingers closed on the book, the chains holding it in place dissolved into shadows and leaked onto the floor as an unsettling keening sound danced at the edge of her hearing.

 

The walls shuddered, and dark smoke started drifting off them. Rain wasn’t sure what was happening, but her heart was rampaging in her chest. Something was wrong. The book had left that seal far too easily. Was this some kind of trap? Not wanting to find out, Rain warped back to the coin she placed by the entrance.

 

After a moment to collect herself, Rain decided she’d had enough excitement for one day and walked back into the mist room to examine her prize in a place where her corruption wouldn’t continue to rise. Once she was safely surrounded by mist, Rain gave the book a closer look. It had a black leather cover with golden words embossed on the front. Rain didn’t recognize the type of leather or the language of the runes. The book was only a finger thick and small enough that Rain could easily hide it in an inner pocket.

 

The thing that stood out to her the most, though, was the faint lines of dark shimmer wafting off of it. That shouldn’t be possible. Shimmer was energy that didn’t belong in a realm; Rain could see it on classers and anything that came from this library when they were in the real world, but this library was where shimmer belonged. It should be invisible here. The fact that she could see it meant that this book didn’t belong here. And if it didn’t belong here, then where did it belong?

 

“Mr. Purple, what is this book?”

 

Rain waited, but Mr. Purple didn’t answer. 

 

Why, though? He had spoken to her when he told her to take this thing; was he just going to leave her to figure it out for herself now? A new thought struck Rain. What if that place had such a corrupting aura that it gave her hallucinations even without her corruption being high enough? Had that actually been Mr. Purple? 

 

The more she thought about it, the more suspicious she got. What were the odds of the first place she went - where she could actually reach the books - being where this thing was held? Now that she thought about it, she had passed plenty of doors, almost like something was leading her to this book. The problem was she didn’t know who or what wanted her to read it. 

 

Rain made a decision. She would decide whether to read the book later after she had some time to clear her head and was in a place she was confident wasn’t influencing her mind. Until then, she would leave the book with her hoard. 

 

Rain nodded to herself before depositing the book, finishing up her tasks for the night, and returning to the real world.

 

Checking out her window, Rain saw she had a few hours of night left. Perfect. She could get a few hours of sleep before deciding what to do with the book. She also needed to check up on Mr. Mirage tomorrow. He’d been acting odd ever since the Ash Grifters had to flee.

 

Rain changed her cloak into night clothes and crawled into bed with Snow. A part of her hoped she would have a nightmare so she could sleep with Ise, but those had been coming less and less lately. Maybe she could pretend and…

 

A man was sitting at a table in an immense workshop with his bald head buried in his hands. The workshop had plans for things Rain had never seen and couldn’t understand; they covered the walls, leaving Rain curious about what the man was creating here.

 

“It's dangerous, yes, but don’t they see this is a way to break the cycle?”

 

The man looked up, and Rain could see his eyes; they were made of pure energy. In the palm of his right hand, exposed now that his head had moved, was a familiar black book. Everything blurred.

 

Rain saw herself, but everything was wrong. She was older and scary. Parts of her were indistinct and blurred. She was dressed in an elegant black dress and sitting on a throne made of human bones with two skulls for handrests. This version of her had an expression of lonely fury. Rain could tell this future her desprately needed some time hugging Snow. 

 

The room where Rain watched her not-self was crumbling and neglected without a single other person in sight or so much as the sound of a rodent. 

 

Eventually, the sad husk on the throne moved, pulling a small black book from her dress. 

 

Rain was standing in a vast white sky; there was no ground, no stars, nothing. In the distance, Rain could see half the head of a woman floating dark shimmer leaking from her exposed insides. The woman looked at Rain with a wild grin. 

 

Rain looked away from the uncomfortable gaze, only to spot a small black book floating in the void. 

 

Blondy stood in a vast desert with a bored look on his face and a hand through a swarthy woman's chest. Blood leaked from her lips as she tried to claw at Blondy’s face. On the ground between them lay the black book.

 

Suddenly, the bored look on Blondy’s face changed as he looked straight at Rain.

 

“I know I’m good-looking, kiddo, but you’re far too young to start dreaming about me,” he said with a smirk before the dream shifted again. 

 

Rain dreamed about a vast golden plain with two armies facing each other. Glittering steel shone in every direction, displaying a vast wealth Rain had never seen, even in the capital of the archipelago. A horn sounded, and one of the armies charged the other with the roar of thousands of men grasping all their courage. The dream shifted.

 

Rain was getting tired of this. She got the message she had been foolish to touch the book. She knew it, but she refused to ignore Mr. Purple any longer. Rain had to watch as scene after scene flashed before her. In most cases, she would find the black book in some part; usually, it would simply be sitting on a table or somewhere out of the way while something else happened. Once in a while, it would take center stage. Sometimes, she never found it.

 

After a while, Rain turned it into a game to see how fast she could find the book in every scene. If she was going to be trapped in this dream, she might as well have fun.

 

Eventually, Rain felt her mind start to recede as true sleep found her.

 

***

 

Rain woke with her sheets all rumpled and tangled. She had let go of Snow sometime in the night, letting him fall off the bed. And lying in front of her on a spare pillow was a small black book with golden words on its cover. Rain took one long look at it, pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t still sleeping, then turned her back on the book, grabbed Snow off the floor, and went back to sleep. That was a problem for future Rain.